This Thing Called Love
by Yaminoko-Jeichan
Summary: ON HIATUS: New summary: Yuki's writing an autobiographical novel, Shuuichi's struggling to surpass a newbie band while dealing with Yuki's more severe coldness.
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: Don't own show.

_It was a foggy late June night, abruptly cool compared to the hot and humid daylight hours the city been having. The solemn moon hung in the sky, a pale silver in its light, accented by the scattered stars sparkling against the deep violet, black sky; instead of being overpowering, as they were in great numbers, the stars merely enhanced the moon's silent beauty, filling the sky just enough so that it wouldn't seem lonely._

_Indeed, it was a perfectly romantic night, great for candle-lit dinners, stargazing and the like; in fact, the usually empty streets seemed filled with couples wandering about, taking advantage of the atmosphere to fall in, or strengthen, love. Even those without dates walked about, searching for others like themselves, or searching for opportunities with the couples less than solid; flirting with every attractive person who passed._

_Yes, the romantic atmosphere persuaded everyone to romance and frolicking—well, almost everyone: one person in the neighborhood remained aloof in his house, huge and expensive, with three different cars in the garage—each one idle and so new that one would scarcely think they'd been driven at all._

_The house itself lacked the air of being inhabited, as though it'd just been occupied and the present owner hadn't time to make it homey—though it'd already been six months._

_Inside the house, more of a fortress than a house one could suppose, the furnishing were utterly unblemished and apt to their purpose—those that had a purpose other than decoration. Everything seemed immaculate that it was infeasible to assume any one truly lived there in the sense that one lives in a home—it had more of the feel of an hotel room where one only spent the night and left during the day. Indeed, it was too lonely to be home to a family, but also too perfect to be the home of a single man._

_But looks are often deceiving—it wasn't home of a family, but it was owned by a single man—not really single relationship wise, but number wise._

_No doubt he was the type of man with enough time and energy to keep house, not that it actually needed cleaning—he hardly used any of the rooms enough to fuss about cleaning them, and the rooms he did use daily were hardly dirtied by his actions. And things would've stood that way if the other guy hadn't moved in, but that introduction will be later; now's the owner's._

_Tall, with wild blond hair, and eyes a light brown, the man stared out the window of his bedroom, viewing the moon and night sky with silent contempt. His eyes and expression radiated cold, as though an unbreakable shard of ice was his heart, as was his blood—a cold that scorned the romantic aura of the moon as a cliché too redundant to be true._

_Perhaps, it was his disappointment that caused his cynicism or maybe it was expertise in romance literature that bothered the ideal picture. For far too long he'd written romance novels not to be disgusted by the stereotypes and cliché running rampant in them—all the readers enjoyed the fancy dinners, the subtle flirtation, and descriptions of beauty more, than if the story had any original plot. Original plot was usually snubbed as too great a risk in romance genre, or in any particular genre of literature for that matter. Thus, each novel was a repeat of plot of a prior story with different names and places._

_This redundancy made the man's work easy and hard—easy because all romance has the same basic structure, and hard because he was bored and couldn't think of anything to spice things up in the novel he was currently constructing. Romance structure was too concrete to really gain attention by writing the commonplace storyline used by most authors, but if a new plot were used most editors refused to accept or publish it._

_Thus, he stared out his window, hating the moon for its stereotyped position in romantic literature and wished he'd chosen a different genre to write in._

_He needed change, wanted it so badly that he privately refused to write anymore if he had to use the same worn-out plot—he didn't really need to write anymore, even to pay the bills—the other man had been bringing in money himself for a while now, and there wasn't many bills to pay. Hell, he could always tell his editor he was taking a break from writing for about four or six months…no, his editor wouldn't hear of it—she'd go ballistic and hound him everyday until he wrote again. Aw, well, it would have been a nice idea; but he couldn't deal with another hound in his daily life. One was enough, more than enough, considering how emotional and rambunctious he was—and how confusing sometimes._

"_Confusing…er…not really the right word to describe him, but much better than idiotic though the latter suits him to a t." he chuckled under his breath, the hound's picture forming in his head: the hound being the other man who lived in the house, who drove him crazy with his hyperactivity. "I wonder what's keeping him." He said in a mumble and sighed, then he---------_

"Yuuukiiii, I'm home!"

"…." Yuki growled silently at hearing the annoying voice of his lover's ringing through the house. Hastily he saved what he'd been typing and then shut down his laptop, closing its lid before his bedroom door opened.

"Yuuukiiii! I…oh, were you working?" Shuuichi asked, his eyes widening as he saw Yuki at the desk with his laptop and he slightly cringed as though expecting the blond to yell at him. "Your sign wasn't on the door, so…."

"It wasn't work." Yuki said, lit a cigarette and flopped down on his bed, virtually ignoring the pink haired nineteen-year-old standing in the doorway.

"Yuki…?" Shuuichi stepped timidly into the room, still expecting Yuki to snap at him, but the blond only ignored him. "You really shouldn't be smoking in bed, Yuki."

"Bite me." Yuki mumbled, lying on his back on the bed and staring at the ceiling more than at Shuuichi. He closed his eyes, and exhaled slowly for a moment, but jumped when he felt a pinching pain on his skin. "AH!" He tossed aside the offender and checked his assaulted side. "What did you do that for?" Yuki demanded, rubbing his skin where marks that were clearly teeth marks were.

"You told me to bite you…." Shuuichi whimpered, tears forming in his eyes, mouth pouting, as he sat on his arms and legs as a dog would after being reprimanded.

"I didn't mean it literally, dumbass." Yuki growled and stood up, putting his cigarette out in an ashtray on the table stand next to the bed.

"But…but…."

Yuki closed his eyes and sighed again, trying to check his temper—he can't have been that dumb….

"Yuuukiiii!"

"What?" Yuki opened his eyes and looked down at the pink haired teen, exasperated and angry. A moment of silence lasted between them, in which Yuki took the time to flicker his eyes all over Shuuichi's body, noticing the problem at once.

"You're horny."

Shuuichi only nodded and continued staring at Yuki needingly with a look that said he wouldn't let the blond get away.

"Fine." Yuki unbuttoned his shirt and threw it on the floor, before leaning down to breathe heavily in Shuuichi's ear.

That made the pink haired brat more excited, and he closed his eyes and moaned, grabbing for Yuki's hand to bring it where he needed it.

However, he grasped the air instead, and opened his eyes in shock, only to find that Yuki was no longer in the room.

"Yuuukiii!" Shuuichi screamed and ran from the room to search for the blond, wondering how Yuki could be so cruel. He found him in the hall, and nearly knocked him over when he caught up. "Yuki! Yuki! Yuki!" Shuuichi grabbed the blond's arm and pulled, trying to drag him back to the bedroom.

"Get off me. Use your hands if you need it that badly."

"Yuki! Don't be so cold!" Shuuichi stared at Yuki with watery puppy dog eyes, whined, and tugged at his arm, desperate to have the blond in bed with him.

While Shuuichi tried desperately to move Yuki, Yuki walked on as though nothing held him, and stopped after a few steps in front of a door.

By this time, Shuuichi was yelling 'Yuki' repeatedly at the top of his lungs and dragging his feet on the floor.

"Please---Yuuukiiii! Ple---" Shuuichi's voice trailed off when Yuki lifted him up by the collar of his shirt, opened the door and threw him through it. He landed in the room with a thud, and heard the door click shut; on the verge of real tears, Shuuichi stood up quickly and turned toward the door expecting it to be locked and having to pound on it for Yuki to let him out. A false assumption.

Yuki stood in front of the doorway inside the room, shirtless and face expressionless.

"Yuki, wha…?" Shuuichi remained frozen from shock while the blond slipped out of his slippers; once he saw Yuki unbutton his pants he gasped and looked around to see what room they were in. "The shower room? Yuki, wha…?"

"I'm bored with the bedroom, and thought to try something different." Yuki said collectively with his eyes and face expressionless, but with his lips curled in a half smirk. "Don't you want it? You were overly excited ten seconds ago." The blond chuckled seeing the dumbstruck expression of Shuuichi's face give way to excitement at his words. Shuuichi quickly undressed, tossing his shirt and pants aside carelessly. "Good."

Yuki bent down and kissed Shuuichi on the lips.

**A/N: Do to the ratings limit on this site this part has been edited out, so use your imagination**

20 Minutes later:

Yuki wrapped a towel around himself and stepped out of the shower room, pausing once to look at Shuuichi sleeping comfortably on the shower floor, a towel covering him.

A brief sigh escaped the blond's lips and he walked back to his bedroom and returned to his laptop, a smile on his face he typed.


	2. Chapter 2

_A/N: This story is going to be somewhat of a merger of the main Anime and the OVA series, plus I might merge some details from the manga in it as well. And also, while I said in the summary it's going to be a YukiShuuichi fic, there's going to be a bigger plot to it rather than just be a story about their relationship._

"Shuuichi's in a good mood today." Hiro said as he watched the pink haired pop-star singing in the recording booth; today Shuuichi's singing was more lively than it had been, more filled with effort. "I'm guessing last night was one of his and Yuki's good ones."

"It appears so, after last month this is refreshing." Fujisaki sighed as he remembered the prior month--it'd been a wreck since Yuki and Shuuichi seemed to have fought every night. "I wonder how long it'll last-- them not quarreling."

"Probably only a few days. If they don't start arguing then I bet Yuki will go in one of his moods and ignore Shuuichi." Hiro said and took a drink from a can of soda on the table, his eyes moving from Shuuichi singing to Fujisaki sitting at the recording control desk. "Anyway, today's the day the Popularity Charts for the new release videos, right?"

"Yeah, we get to see where our band's newest video landed on the charts."

"I'm betting on it being in the top slot."

"That would be nice, amazing too seeing as we worked on it last month when Shuuichi was too upset to work because of Yuki."

"It turned out good considering that, but I'm still betting on the top slot being Bad Luck's."

"Don't be so quick on assuming that." K spoke, arms crossed, standing next to the table. "Seeing as Nittle Grasper released a new video as well, we have more of a challenge on reaching the top spot. Bad Luck's popular but so's Nittle Grasper, and I don't think Ryuuichi had a bad month like Shuuichi did while making it."

"I'd almost forgot about that." Hiro muttered, sighed and took another drink of soda. "But I'm still banking on Bad Luck taking the top spot. Regardless if you believe it's possible."

"It's possible, and I'd already placed bets with Mr. Seguchi that Bad Luck would get the top spot." K replied, grinning.

"Oh? And what does the winner get?"

"Actually, it's like this--whatever band, either Bad Luck or Nittle Grasper, gets the top slot, their members get five days paid vacation."

"Really? And the losing band...?"

"Gets twice the workload those five days."

"Typical." Fujisaki and Hiro both sighed, but quickly turn their attentions to Shuuichi exiting the recording booth.

"Hey Shuuichi, worn out yet?"

"No, Hiro, I just remembered that today's when they release the video Popularity Chart, and..."

"You're taking a break to watch it. You deserve it, how hard you've been working today."

"Well, they should announce it on tv soon." K said, turning on the television in the room. "Just so you know neither us nor Nittle Grasper got this information ahead of time."

Quietly they all stared at the television, waiting for the announcement of the rankings.

Meanwhile:

Yuki sat at his desk, his laptop open and on in front of him though his attention was on the tv to the left of his desk. As he sat, watching the announcer talk nonstop about the other bands on the list and showing clips of their videos he heard the doorbell ring.

"Crap, of all the times..." He mumbled, glanced once at the television, and went to answer the door. "Couldn't you just've called, I'm busy..." He spoke as he opened the door, eyes closed, but the moment he opened his eyes he realized it was a stranger at his door.

Dressed in slick black pants, with a metal studded belt, black with red trimmings, and a grey trenchcoat, with a black cowboy hat blocking his face from view, the stranger looked up to Yuki and said:

"You didn't leave your number with your contact information in the letter."

"Huh...who...?"

"Oh, I haven't introduced myself properly yet, sorry." The stranger pulled the cowboy hat back and held out a hand. "The name's Hakoma. Sakuya Hakoma, you contacted me about a week ago about business."

"Oh yeah, come in." Yuki made room for the visitor to pass. "You wasn't what i was expecting."

"I have that affect on people." Sakuya Hakoma said, removing the trench coat and hat so that Yuki had a better view of the visitor's appearance—and quickly Yuki realized it was a woman. He stared stunned at her while she removed her shoes and stepped onto the wooden floor of the room.

"You really weren't what i was expecting." Yuki gaped, taking in the rest of Sakuya's appearance—she wore a red tube top shirt with a black mesh shirt over it, and gloves on her hands with the finger sleeves cut off. Her hair was short in back with long bangs in front. The back was black in color while the bangs were a dull green.

"My appearance does throw people off, i suppose it's because people don't know what to expect."

"You're so secretive about what you do, it's no wonder people are shocked. If you allow your picture to be published in your books, then i certainly have recognized you."

"You've read my books?"

"I only skimmed through one of your poetry books, and only because i wanted to use a poem in a part of it and couldn't write one at the time."

"Yes, i remember that, you mailed me a letter asking permission to use the poem. I was surprised that the famous Eiri Yuki picked a poem i wrote to use in one of his novels."

"Yours was the only decent poem i had at hand—the only one that fit." Yuki scowled and walked down the hall, barely waiting for Sakuya to catch up.

"I see someone needs work in their people skills." Sakuya caught up to Yuki and entered the room he entered a few seconds ahead of her. "What have we here, a bedroom. You're not thinking of using that charm of yours to seduce me, are you?" She teased after taking a full glance at the room's furnishings.

"Be quiet. I just want to watch a program for a while, then we can talk. You came an half hour earlier than i expected." Yuki turned his attention to the television to see how much he missed while talking to his visitor. "Good, they're just starting number three. I didn't miss it. Or at least i hope i didn't." 'If Shuuichi got anything below number two, he'd come home miserable.'

"Oh, you're watching the Popularity Charts for the new video releases. I'd almost forgot it was today." Sakuya said and sat down on the floor in front of the television, leaning back on her outstretched arms. "So, who are you rooting for to reach the top spot?"

"Like that's any of your business."

"Hm, aw well, though i bet you're rooting for the band your lover boy's in."

"...Nn..." Yuki glared at her, eyes narrowed.

"What? It's in all the magazines—well the rumors at least, but rumors always have a basis in fact."

"Be quiet, you're annoying me."

"...fine...oh, they're onto number two."

Television after a brief commercial break:

Announcer:

"Welcome back to the show, now's time to reveal the number two video. Or, in this case, videos. That's right folks, we have a tie for the number two slot—and it's certainly a shocker." The announcer paused before continuing. "Both bands are very popular and have been for a while, and on numerous occasions have sung on the same stage—just two months ago they've sung at the Tokyo Bay Music Fes. Incidentally both videos are of the song they sung together at the Fes: Here, tied at number two, are Nittle Grasper's and Bad Luck's videos for 'Kiss Shining.'" The announcer finished and switched to clips from the videos.

N-G Productions:

"What! No way no way no way, No way! How can we both get second place!" Shuuichi shouted, holding onto the television, shaking with shock. "That's bogus! There's no band that can beat either of us! It's impossible!"

"Did anyone expect this to happen?"

"Nope."

"Who d'you suppose got first?"

"No idea."

"How can you guys be so calm about this!" Shuuichi shouted at them, still pried to the television, "There has to be a mistake! There can't have been a band that beat both Bad Luck and Nittle Grasper! There can't!"

"Apparently there is."

"No, there can't...!"

"Hush, they're about to announce the number one video."

Television:

Announcer:

"Sorry to those of you disappointed fans about the outcome—no one could've predicted this. But now's time to reveal the number one video, a video whose band will go down in music history as the one band who beat Nittle Grasper and Bad Luck with their first video in the polls. A band who has truly risen from obscurity to popularity overnight: this is history in the making folks. Here is the number one video by newbie band, Black Heart, 'Stab'!" The Announcer finished and his image was replaced with the number one video.

A rock beat, the setting of a dark empty street, and then a very vocally sung first verse.

The visage of destiny reveals

that the hands of time aren't always real,

and though it pains me to confess,

when I'm with you,I am loveless.'

Then the beat quickens and the vocals turn into more rock sounding.

'Stab me in the heart to be with you

Chain these broken wings that hold me down

Bind these hands to the wall—now face me!

Like lingering shadows on the floor

I'm bound and broken—and ignored...'

Up until now the figure singing in the video is obscured by shadows, but then the shadows lift to reveal a woman with black spiky green bangs tipped black dressed in a sleeveless trench coat.

"Whoa...I haven't seen anything quite like this in Japan before." K said, staring at the Television screen even after the video ended.

"I guess its unconventionality paid off."

Elsewhere:

Stunned into silence, his greenish hair falling over the bandanna he had tied around his forehead, Ryuuichi Sakuma stared at the screen oblivious to everything around him.

"Ryuuichi, what is it?"

Ryuuichi remained silent and exited the room, and took out a square shaped locket—opened it and whispered.

"Hayako..."


	3. Chapter 3

'_All around giant skyscrapers loomed blocking out the majority of the blue sky, the sun hidden as well though he desperately tried to find it. Wherever he looked, though, his eyes met the concrete and glass of the towering buildings, and the glimmering blue of the sky directly above him—no sun._

_Sighing he changed his gaze to his level surroundings, mind buzzing by the crowds of people walking along, oblivious to him and his amazement. Holding back his urge to explore the city thoroughly, he turned down a side road—a shortcut to his destination. _

_Soon he was running, his legs stretching as far as they could, his excitement pumping adrenaline through him; he felt himself smiling, felt the happiness within him try to burst free as he ran, ran down the side roads and alleys toward the park. He laughed when he saw the trees and paths of the familiar place, laughed in joy at the peace being there brought—he felt his happiness reach out to the other people in the park, and felt their peace._

_He paused in his running, gasping for breath and smiling before looking around him. The park suddenly grew empty, devoid of the warmth of a moment ago—he didn't worry though, his attention zoomed in on a man standing in the distance._

_His light brown eyes studied the man in the distance—his form so obscured that it was merely a silhouette and housed no definite detail. Eagerly, he walked toward the man, focused intently on the stranger who was now the only person in the vicinity other than him—the man didn't seem like a stranger though, his body radiated a familiar aura that pulled him in._

_He wanted to see his face._

_Suddenly a flash of light illuminated the man's appearance, and he had a perfect view of the man's face—so familiar and shocking. He recoiled at the sight and his heart beat faster as his surroundings changed to those of a darkened room of a small apartment._

_A split bottle on the floor, its leaking red fluid spreading an alcoholic stench in the room; a man by the window staring at him with a look that terrified him; the man walking closer to him as he clung to the wall, his heart threatening to burst from his chest. The man stood so close to him and reeked of alcohol, and said something that caused a shiver of sickened fear to rush up his spine._

"_No." He awoke abruptly, gasping for breath as he felt his chest tighten from terror and disgust—why did he have to dream? And dream about that time for that matter? His hand shook, and he stared strangely at it before clasping it with his other hand to steady his nerves…'_

"Whoa." Sakuya finished reading the page in her hand, her eyes gleaming with interest. "Your writing's intense."

"Yes, that's why I'm a bestselling author. Anyway, I'll have the rest written in a month or so."

"I'll call you in three weeks to check your progress." Sakuya said holding a slip of paper with the number on it. "Are you sure you want my company to publish this one?"

"Yes. It doesn't fit in the romance genre and that's the only one my present publisher accepts—anyway, I'm going to use a different penname for this novel."

"All right. But why did you pick my company?"

"Because yours has publishing rights in America and that's where I want it published—why do you think I wrote it in English?" Yuki paused and shut his laptop, before turning back to the woman. "And I want it published only in America, no where else."

"That…that presents a great barrier to advertising it—using a different name and limiting its distribution? Not many companies would agree to those terms."

"Those are the terms—otherwise you can't publish it." Yuki moved to take the pages back from Sakuya, but the woman kept them out of reach.

"You've got your terms, but there's a favor I want from you in return."

"What sort of favor?"

The Next Day:

Shuuichi got to NG Studios early to practice his new songs, his determination showing overtly in his features—he wanted to make sure nothing like what happened yesterday happened again. Plus he wanted to show that that newbie band couldn't sneak up like that on the polls with impunity.

The only band he'd allow to beat him was Nittle Grasper, any other doing so was unacceptable—and this newbie band had beaten his band and Nittle Grasper! That was even more blasphemous in his book—no one, no one was greater than his idol, no one could hold a candle to Sakuma, nor to him.

"Shuuichi's certainly fired up today." Hiro said the moment the pink-haired singer started singing their latest song. "I guess being second on the video polls pushed his buttons."

"It's not just that," Fujisaki replied, sitting down at the recording controls. "That new band beat Nittle Grasper too, and that's got Shindou-kun fired up even more."

"Did you find out anything about the new band…um, what was it called again?"

"Black Heart." Fujisaki glanced at Shuuichi singing in the booth then turned back to Hiro. "I didn't find out much, except that it really did appear over night—it played a show last week when the scheduled band couldn't make it. And then it was just a group of mismatched musicians put together on the spot."

"What? Where did you learn this?"

"It was in article in a magazine I looked through after the video charts yesterday." The keyboardist pointed to a magazine on the studio table. "That magazine is one of the biggest ones in Tokyo; I can't believe I hadn't noticed the article before. It's the second biggest one in that magazine. And in another magazine that story got front page."

"Hey, I read this magazine!" Hiro exclaimed as he noticed the title on the cover, flipping through it to the page of the article. "I haven't had a chance to read this issue though."

"I'm certain they're going to reprint the article because of yesterday's video polls—I bet the press is dying to get interviews with the members of the band that beat both Bad Luck and Nittle Grasper. And the public will be rushing to find all they can about the band."

"So after just a week this band was able to put together a video to top the charts? How did they find a Label to produce them that quickly?" Hiro mumbled aloud having read only the first paragraph of the article.

"They didn't, if you read the article fully, it says they produced themselves—the lead singer used money from other endeavors to finance the video and other promotions for the band."

"The lead singer financed…is she rich or something?"

"That it doesn't say."

"I bet music labels will be fighting to get them signed on now." Hiro replied, placing the magazine down and looking back to Fujisaki. "Speaking of which, is Seguchi…."

"He's going to meet with them this afternoon to discuss signing them onto the NG label."

_A/N: I'm ending this chapter there since I have no idea what to write next and I want to update my story ASAP since I haven't been able to update in a while. I think I have a bit too many stories to handle, with a hundred more running around in my head waiting to get typed up. I love writing, it just takes a while sometimes to get the ideas written out in a decent way—I'm nearly a perfectionist when it comes to writing, I'm known among my friends for rewriting a chapter up to five times before deciding on a finished work._

_Anyway, please review—and I DON'T care if you flame me, I just want reviews._

_Also, this story is taking me down a different plot than originally intended, especially since I sort of forgotten what I was going to have happen to the canon characters—I only remember what I was going to have happen to my OC._


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